The response to “legal expenses” doesn’t identify how much was paid to each of these firms and why; only the aggregate fees of $694,000.

Last year, candidate Christopher Ruthe said that the council’s total spend for external legal fees should only be about $75,000 a year — as can be seen, it is nearly ten times that.

Mr Dougherty appointed Tim Power as his in-house lawyer not so long ago — what does he do?

Seen today, with a For Sale message on the rear window.

“Wednesday 8 November 2017, 7.15 am to 8.45 am, Southward Car Museum, $25 (incl GST) per person

“The Electra Business Breakfast Kapiti is delighted to be hosting Dr Michael Macaulay of the School of Government, Victoria University of Wellington. Mike will be speaking on integrity, ethics and anti-corruption from a global and New Zealand perspective.”

Read the rest on the KC News website.

Needless to say, the short answer to that question is no — and corruption is a particularly big problem in local government, as we have seen over the last decade in Kapiti.

Despite that, NZ rates well in perceptions internationally: last year, according to Transperancy International’s ranking, NZ shared first place as the World’s least corrupt country with Denmark.  At the bottom were Somalia, South Sudan and North Korea, no surprise.

The rankings generally are what you’d expect, although there are some countries that rate better than you might think — such as China and India — and a few that are worse — such as Thailand and Equador.

Malcolm was behind a table by the trees, Temperatures were modest by overseas standards, but you want to avoid the high UV levels in the sunshine. Those round blue things with flowers are old car tyres.

Malcolm McCrea in Puriri Road has a complete field full of of interesting creations: “from tall totems to small tikis, from wind sculptures to house guardians.”

Kokopelli Arts Studio in Rimu Street is Shirley Ann Petkau and her husband Slim Petkau.  She is from Phoenix, Arizona, and our discussion didn’t take long to switch from art to politics, including American politics. Unlike in NZ and in fact most First World countries there just isn’t the political will there for major reforms, particularly to the expensive and bureaucratic health system dominated by the insurance industry. Powerful lobby groups have a disproportionate amount of influence; and we won’t get started on the media.

Next to their drive is this red manuka bush, an important species.  Info

1 November: Yoga With Elise, Waikanae Memorial Hall, 9:30 am

4 November (and each Saturday morning thereafter): the Farmers Market at Waikanae Park

4/5 November: The second weekend of the Arts Trail

5 November:  Guy Fawkes Day (although 1 December — Dougherty Departure Day — would be more appropriate for celebration locally).  Look out for your pets.

7 November: Melbourne Cup — back your favourite nag!

18/19 November: The Lions Waikanae Garden Trail.

28 November: Waikanae Community Board meeting at 7.00 pm, Waikanae Boating Club, 97 Tutere Street, Waikanae Beach.

There are sure to be other events we aren’t yet aware of, watch this space.

Brilliant video here of the recent Whitianga 1080 protest. Listen to the lyrics, “we live together & everybody lives downstream”. Why does wanting clean drinking water classify you as a radical activist, and worse, a terrorist? EnvirowatchRangitikei RebelVision Digital Published on Jul 31, 2017 STOP POISONING PARADISE BAN 1080 NOW PHOTO CREDITS : Shannon Duncan […]

via They call you a ‘radical’ & an ‘activist’ if you want your drinking water CLEAN! … “We live together & everybody lives downstream” (Whitianga) — Rangitikei Enviromental Health Watch

This weekend saw good weather and on Saturday the sun was high and bright. 🙂

Our first visit was naturally to the artist in our street, Julie Davidson Fine Arts and Photography.  Animal and children’s illustrations are her speciality.  Website

She likes the creative side of publishing and has experienced the hard or business side of it, particularly tough when it comes to dealing with distributors in England; it was an occasion to share stories on that!

She said we would need to Photoshop her photo to make it look good — no, we didn’t and we haven’t.

You could be excused for thinking this is Queensland, but in fact it’s just across the road from the picture of the acacia trees in Te Moana Road.

AED = Automated External Defibrillators.

Says Sue Lusk: “These are such good workshops if you’re able to make one of the times — we have accessible AED’s all round Waikanae now, thanks to Susie Mills and the Kapiti AED Trust, so the more people who know how to use them in a high pressure situation the better — let Susie know when you can come.”